‘Free’ tuition in Ontario doesn’t mean there are no costs to students: Kathleen Wynne

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she worries about her government pitching a new student grant program as providing “free” tuition, because there are caveats.

The Liberal government announced in its recent budget that it is combining existing programs to create an Ontario Student Grant, which would pay for average college or university tuition for students from families with incomes of $50,000 or less.

But in a question-and-answer session with student leaders on Tuesday, Wynne was asked why the program is being marketed as free tuition, when students who qualify would still incur some costs.

It is expected that students will still pay $3,000 toward their overall costs, such as living expenses, to supplement the tuition grant.

The $3,000 figure was arrived at because staff determined it was a “reasonable amount” that a student could make at a summer job, the premier said.

Under the new program, half of students from families with incomes of $83,000 will qualify for non-repayable grants to cover their tuition and no student will receive less than they can currently receive.

The government is defining average college tuition as $2,768 and average university tuition as $6,160, for arts and science programs.

Wynne conceded the Ontario Student Grant is targeted at full-time, not part-time, students.

“I don’t think we actually have the plan for part-time students that we need,” she said. “There are some supports in place through the Canada Student Assistance Grants, but I think that there’s more that we have to do.”

She also acknowledged there are calls from some corners for free tuition for every student. Wynne said she was open to the discussion, but at the moment the government can pay for the new student grant through combining several programs and eliminating some tax credits.

“In an ideal world we might actually move there,” she said. “I don’t know at this point how we would do that.”